A sky full of buzzing robots has changed everything about how the war is conducted.

Russia has repeatedly shattered its own records for aerial assaults on Ukraine this summer, culminating in a peak attack on July 9 with the launch of 728 Shahed-type drones. Throughout the war, Russia steadily expanded the reach and intensity of its strikes on Ukrainian cities,

They're cheap, they're deadly and they're among the main reasons Ukraine believes it can hold out against advancing Russian forces this year and even beyond, according to a dozen Ukrainian commanders,